Meter for measuring and displaying the power consumption of an electrical appliance and the time period of such power consumption

Abstract

A power meter (10) is provided which can plug into an electric wall socket and it is provided with its own socket (16) for receiving the plug of an electrical appliance. The power meter has means for measuring electric current flow to an electrical appliance and indicates the amount of electrical power consumed by an appliance. In alternative embodiments, the meter is provided as an integral part of an electric wall switch (30) or wall socket (40) or it is built into an electrical appliance (50). In another embodiment, the power meter has a plurality of sockets for receiving the plugs of a number of electrical appliances for separately indicating the power consumption of each appliance.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electric power meter comprising: a current measuring device for measuring the total accumulated electric current flow to an electrical appliance during actual operation of said electrical appliance;   a timing device associated with said power meter for measuring the accumulated actual time during which said electric current flowed when said electrical appliance was drawing said electrical current;   a processor associated with said power meter for receiving data from said current measuring device to calculate the accumulated electric power consumed by said appliance when said appliance is being operated; and   a display associated with said power meter for displaying said accumulated electric power consumed by said appliance and said accumulated actual time over which said electric power was actually consumed by said appliance during which time period the appliance is in actual operation and drawing said electrical current.   
     
     
       2. The power meter according to claim 1, further comprising a computer interface on the body member for downloading the measurement results of the power meter to an external computer for processing the results. 
     
     
       3. The power meter according to claim 1, further comprising data storage capacity for storing said measurement results. 
     
     
       4. The power meter according to claim. 1, comprising colour-coded lighting on the body member for respectively indicating relatively higher and relatively lower power consumption conditions. 
     
     
       5. The power meter according to claim 4, wherein said colour-coded lighting comprises a red light for indicating the relatively higher power consumption condition, and a green light for indicating the relatively lower power consumption condition. 
     
     
       6. The power meter according to claim 5, wherein said colour-coded lighting further comprises lighting for indicating an intermediate condition between said relatively higher and relatively lower consumption conditions. 
     
     
       7. The power meter according to claim 6, wherein said red light comprises two red LED's adjacent each other, said green light comprises two green LED's adjacent each other and said intermediate lighting comprises a white LED between said red and said green LED's. 
     
     
       8. The electric power meter according to claim 1, wherein the current measuring device measures the accumulated electrical current flow to a plurality of appliances and the display comprises a plurality of displays for displaying the accumulated power consumed by each appliance separately. 
     
     
       9. The electric power meter according to claim 8, further comprising data storage for storing said measurement results.